Duggan to detail State of the City tonight

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan gave a preview of his first State of the City address at the Crain's Newsmaker of the Year event on Tuesday.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will give his first State of the City speech at 7 p.m. tonight.

Two months into his tenure as Detroit's 75th mayor, Duggan will have a significant number of issues to talk about, from the bankruptcy proceedings to his plans to improve city services, including street lighting and public transportation.

At the Crain's Newsmaker of the Year event Tuesday, Duggan previewed some of his key issues as they relate to the city's business community. He issued a call to action, rallying business leaders to help fight scrap-metal theft and volunteer their executives to train city workers.

"I hope you're still clapping for me like this a year from now," he told the sold-out crowd of 800 at the MotorCity Casino Hotel, adding later, "the city of Detroit is not as far away from being turned around as it looks."

Duggan called on attendees to support House Bill 4593, which would expand regulations for scrap metal facilities, in particular by stopping immediate cash transactions for scraps. The bill has been winding its way through the Michigan Legislature; voting is expected in the coming weeks. Because Duggan made this a keystone of Tuesday's speech, urging people to call any senators or representatives they know, he will presumably touch on this issue tonight.

"We have to deal with the issue of the unsavory scrap metal dealers in the city of Detroit," he said.

"The businesses in this town are having to fence in their rooftop air handling units because they are being brazenly stolen," he added. "It costs twice as much to open here than the suburbs because of the insurance."

Early in Duggan's tenure as mayor, he asked city residents to give him six months before judging his rebuilding efforts. Two months in, he will offer his self-assessment of those efforts.

He also hired a new chief information officer to overhaul the city's outdated technology systems. Beth Niblock started her new gig Monday, arriving from Louisville, Ky., where she ran a 75-person team focused on all aspects of that city's technology, including computers, network security, the city's website and software development.

Attending the State of the City address at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center is by invitation only, but it will be live-streamed on the city's website and broadcast by local media outlets.